In 'The Christmas We Didn’t Expect'​, David Mathis has produced a wonderful series of advent reflections. Designed to help us wait rightly for Christmas morning, these twenty-four short devotions work through the Gospel account of the events surrounding Christ’s birth. These short, gentle studies are each followed by a brief reflective prayer, and help us focus in on the glorious God who came down in the person of Jesus. Taking examples from the likes of Mary and the Shepherds, Mathis encourages the reader to reflect on and marvel at the God made man.

These daily Advent devotions will help prepare your heart rightly for the day of the year that many most eagerly anticipate. A day when we most obviously gather around the truthof the incarnation. Advent is a period of waiting. Waiting for the day, for the Lord, to arrive. This book encourages us to wait well, expectantly and anticipatory, longing for our Saviour. I would wholeheartedly commend these short studies, simply written to help us fix our eyes on Jesus, and will certainly be picking up this book again as Advent arrives this year.

Ed Creedy, Grace Church Guildford